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Charles Clinton Goodwin
Ozias Goodwin married Mary Woodward, a daughter of Robert Woodward, of Braintree, County Essex, England. Her father's will, dated May 27, 1640, mentions her as a legatee.
George Clinton Goodwin, father of Charles Clinton Goodwin, was a son of Anson Goodwin, and was born at Ashfield, Massachusetts, October 13, 1807, and died May 12, 1869. He was engaged in the wholesale drug business, which had been established by his father. The business was begun on the old Goodwin Homestead, in the manufacture of extracts and compounds, and grew eventually into the large wholesale drug business that became the house of George Clinton Goodwin & Company. This firm was well and favorably known in every part of the New England States, and even to the trade throughout the country. It was one of the largest concerns in this line of busi- ness in the United States. Mr. Goodwin was a prominent and generous mem- ber and supporter of the old First Baptist Church of Charlestown, Massachu- setts, and was superintendent of the Sunday school of that church for twenty- three years, and also for a time of the Baptist church of Lexington, Massachu- setts. His associates in business often mentioned his good penmanship, as well as his gift of expression. Much reading and deep thinking made him a man of unusual intellectual attainments, though he was modest and disliked public- ity of every form. His wife, Jane (Pearson) Goodwin, of Haverhill, Massa- chusetts, died October 13, 1855, at Lexington. He married (second) July 15, 1857, Hannah Elizabeth Bradbury, principal of Charlestown Female Seminary at that time. She was born March 16, 1827, in Chesterville, Maine, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Davolle) Bradbury. She died in Boston, June I, 1893.
Charles Clinton Goodwin inherited the fine superior qualities of his father. He attended the public schools of Charlestown, Massachusetts, whither his father had moved when he was very young, and later he received some of his education at Lexington, where he was graduated from the High School. He en- tered his father's employ at the age of eighteen years, immediately upon com- pleting his education. He applied himself closely to the task of learning the business in every minute detail. He was admitted to partnership, and when his father died he became the head of the firm of George Clinton Goodwin & Com- pany. Under his management the firm held its position of leadership in the trade, and grew to large proportions. The business was incorporated on January 1, 1900, at the time of consolidation with Cutler Brothers, and West & Jenney, two other prominent drug manufacturing concerns of Boston, under the name of The Eastern Drug Company. Mr. Goodwin became the president of this company, and Mr. Cutler the vice-president. After the death of Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Cutler became the head of the company.
Mr. Goodwin was prominently identified with a number of important in- terests into which he infused the wonderfully vitalizing force to which they mainly owe their flourishing condition and brilliant prospects. Among these should be mentioned that he was the vice-president of the National Wholesale
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Charles Clinton Goodwin
Druggists' Association, and was in theforemost rank of those of our citizens who have made the name of America a synonym for success. In his political belief, Mr. Goodwin was a Republican, and the interests of his own town and community received his earnest consideration, and he was ever ready and most willing to advance its welfare, but he did not wish to hold any public office. From the year 1864 until the time of his death, Mr. Goodwin's summer home was at Magnolia, formerly called "Kettle Cove," a fishing hamlet. He influ- enced others to select this place for their summer homes, and lived to see it become one of the most popular summer colonies on the coast.
The following tribute to his character is from his pastor, friend and neigh- bor, the Rev. Charles F. Carter, pastor of the Hancock Congregational Church of Lexington, Massachusetts:
Charles Clinton Goodwin had characteristics and traits that were few, simple and sin- cere. The one most marked was his spirit of good cheer, and his kindly feeling towards all. He never meant to strike the depressing note. He liked the life in the major key, and he wanted plenty of good voices in the chorus, each one bearing a part, and also each one enjoying it. Thus he spread the spirit of good comradeship, and men were glad of his presence. If a merry heart doeth good, his was not lacking in tonic, quality, and worth. Nor was this merely a superficial trait. There was real heart back of it, and the vigor of his hand grasp that lasted to the very end was a symbol of the human kindliness that was gen- uine wherever it found expression. He loved his Church, in which he so regularly wor- shipped, the people, the building, and the deep purpose for which it stands. He was active in raising the funds when the Church was finished in 1893. Earnestly devoted to the cause of its music, he served on that committee, and he gave himself in the one distinctive form of service that was so native and congenial to him, with a loyalty, devotion and faithful- ness. From the age of eighteen years, he began to sing in the old First Baptist Church at Charlestown, of which his father had been such a zealous member, and in 1886, when the Hancock Church was organized, he began his long years of service with the society in the choir. Seldom missing a service, and a long and notable record of forty-seven years as a tenor without compensation shows with what devotion his refined nature was made to shed its rays. He belonged to the famous Boylston Club, Arion Quartette, and others. He was especially fond of the orchestra and was himself a devotee of the clarionet. Many hours of enjoyment were his with this instrument. What his fidelity meant, only those can appre- ciate who knew how steadfast and unflagging it was, and often it has held things together when otherwise they might have fallen apart. Without reference to this trait his life would not be rightly estimated. If his place was there at a given hour, there at that given time he was to be found. The responsibilities he accepted and the engagements that he made were kept with religious fidelity. This was the reason why men could rely not only on the sin- cerity of his purpose, but also on the precision with which it could be carried out. He had a few old-fashioned virtues, and this was one of them, that has helped to make his name honored for his fair dealing and reliability. He was not for success at any price. He valued the human relation too much for that, while the success he had never in the least estranged him from his fellowmen, but all of every rank recognized in him the spirit of a true friend. He loved his fireside, his home and all the environments, and he took especial pride in "Sunny Slope," his home for many years, into which he established himself in 1883, and where he passed his last hours, among those who loved him best. He was a patriot in the sense that he felt honored in having his home on the site where those two leading patriots stood on that memorable dawn, when Adams exclaimed to Hancock, upon
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Charles Clinton Goodwin
hearing the first firing of the British, "What a glorious morning for America." On a small eminence near his portal is the tablet commemorating this historic event, that the world has sing in praises.
On October 15, 1862, Charles Clinton Goodwin was united in marriage with Alice Dodge Phelps, who was born October 18, 1838, a daughter of Cap- tain William Dane and Lusanna Tucker ( Bryant) Phelps, of Lexington, Massachusetts. Her father, Captain William Dane Phelps, was a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was a noted sea captain. He had sailed the coast of California for several years before the discovery of gold in that coun- try, and he was the first man to carry the American Flag up the Sacramento river. The ship "Alert," famous in song and story, immortalized in the book written by Richard H. Dana, Jr., entitled, "Two Years Before the Mast," was commanded on its return voyage to California by Captain William Dane Phelps. Richard H. Dana, Jr., returned from the coast aboard the "Alert" and his adventures are recorded in his most interesting sea tale. The "Alert" subsequently became a prize of the Confederate steamer, "Alabama." Cap- tain Phelps also brought to Boston the first California gold, after its discov- ery in 1849, and was the author of a book, which related his many exciting and dangerous experiences, entitled, "Fore and Aft," which he wrote under the nom de plume of "Webfoot." When a boy, on a voyage in the South Seas, he and seven others were left by their captain on Prince Edward Island, in one of the South Sea groups, to collect oil. The captain promised to return for them in nine months. The captain, however, did not return, and for twenty-eight months young Phelps and the small party lived a Robinson Crusoe life on the desert island, until they were finally rescued. In 1835, Captain Phelps was shipwrecked in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts, and he was one of only. three or four of the crew who were saved. After he retired, he decided to take one more voyage, and this time took a trip around the world. He passed the remainder of his life in his pleasant Lexington home, among his old friends and neighbors. He was well known for his wit and dry humor, and his fam- ily and closest friends spent many happy hours listening as he related his many strange experiences in all the corners of the world.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clinton Goodwin were the parents of three chil- dren, as follows: I. George Clinton, born November 24, 1863; unmarried; he is connected with the Northern Pacific Railroad, at Tacoma, Washington. 2. Grace Elise, born September 21, 1870, who became the wife of Edward Porter Merriam, the son of Matthew Henry and Jane Merriam, of Lexing- ton; they are the parents of two children, Robert Clinton and Gordon Phelps. 3. Alice Phelps, born October 20, 1875; she is a graduate of Smith College, and studied at the University of Berlin, Germany; she is a graduate nurse of the Boston Homeopathic Hospital, and took an allopathic course at the Boston Floating Hospital, where she served as superintendent of Nurses for two sea- sons ; she also served as superintendent of Nurses at the Medical Mission on
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Charles Clinton Goodwin
Hull street, Boston; on September 24, 1908, she became the wife of Dr. J. Walter Schirmer, of Needham, Massachusetts, and they are the parents of two children, Louise and John.
Mr. Goodwin was made a Mason in 1871, in the Simon W. Robinson Lodge, of Lexington, Massachusetts, and was afterward a member of Hiram Lodge. He was exalted in Menotomy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Ar- lington, Massachusetts, March 30, 1876. He enjoyed to intermingle with his fellow-men, and was a member of De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, of Boston. He joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Bos- ton in 1869, and was a member of the Lexington Historical Society.
Francis Frederick Brown, M.D.
T THERE is no profession which makes greater demand upon those who follow it through life than that of medicine, espe- cially as it was practiced in the past generation, before the days of high specialization, when the good physician went abroad is response to all calls, whether they came by day or night, from nearby or the next county. In those days the mere choice of this profession by a man indicated either the most com- plete absorption in his subject or an unusually developed affection for his fel- low humans, while to live up with any degree of success to the ideals thereof was indeed a distinction. The life of Dr. Francis Frederick Brown, which terminated on January 13, 1890, in Reading, Massachusetts, exemplified in the highest degree the sterling virtues which it is necessary to possess in order to fully live up to the demand of this great profession and so highly were these virtues regarded by the community in which he dwelt and practiced that his death was felt by all his fellow-men as the loss of something like a personal friend. The profession of medicine is one which, if it be conscien- tiously followed, involves an enormous amount of self-sacrifice, and is a source of the greatest blessing to others. So heavily should these considerations weigh that it would be difficult to imagine a return that the community might make to its physicians which could balance the debt it owes them for all the good received. Hard work, loss of sleep, lonely trips in inclement weather at untimely hours, and a constant demand upon one's powers of sympathy-these are the physician's offerings to humankind. These are the things that a true and worthy physician brings with him, a true and worthy physician such as the distinguished gentleman whose name heads this tribute, and whose death left a vacant place in so many hearts.
The birth of Francis Frederick Brown occurred in South Sudbury, Massachusetts, August 12, 1834, the son of Edward Brown, of that town. The town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, was settled in 1638, and received its name in 1639. It was the nineteenth town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Up to the year 1637 there was no white man's trail through the length and breadth of this tract of land. The smoke of no settler's cabin curled upward through the tree tops of its far-reaching forests, and it was only the home of the Indians and the haunt of wild beasts and birds. The town was settled by Englishmen, who fitly represented the noble element that came to the New England shores at that period. They were Puritans both in theory and prac- tice, and afar from the conveniences and luxuries of their native land sought in a new country a home remote from political strife. They embarked for America at a time when England was in an unsettled condition, when ship
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Francis Frederick Brown, H. D.
after ship was bringing to these shores some of her purest and staunchest citi- zens. The settlers of Sudbury were young men, or in the prime of stirring manhood, and were not patriarchs near the close of their pilgrimage. The first minister of Sudbury was the Rev. Edmund Brown, who was ordained in August, 1640, and was in about the prime of life when he came to this coun- try. The town being laid out, and the necessary means for securing a liveli- hood provided, the people turned their attention to ecclesiastical matters. The church was of paramount importance to the early New England inhabitants. For its privileges they had in part embarked for these far-off shores. In 1640 a church was organized which was Congregational, and this church called to its pastorate the Rev. Edmund Brown, and elected Mr. William Brown, dea- con. The town in selecting Rev. Brown for its minister secured the services of an energetic and devoted man, and it is said that he was among the good men and very prudent. He came from England in 1637, and was ordained and in actual service in that country before he came to America. He was admitted a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, May 13, 1640. He was a large land owner, his real estate amounting to over three hundred acres. He hunted and fished, and it is said was a good angler. He played on several musical in- struments, and was a noted musician. He was much interested in educating and christianizing the Indians, and at one time had some of them under his special care. His library was, for those times, quite valuable, containing about one hundred and eighty volumes. At his death, which occurred January 22, 1678, he left one hundred pounds to Harvard College. Edmund and William Brown were relatives, if not brothers, and arrived in Sudbury at or about the same time. William Brown was admitted a freeman in 1641, and became a prominent man at the plantation, and at one time was captain of the militia. The Brown family has been numerous in Sudburry, Massachusetts, living for the most part on the west side of the river. In the old homestead located there the brothers, John, Israel, How and Edward, were born, and on the ancestral estate Everett and Hubbard. Hubbard is the only one now living. Edward Brown was also the father of Dr. Francis Frederick Brown, in whose memory we are writing.
Dr. Brown obtained his early educational training in the public schools of his native town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, and while still a young lad be- gan his preparation for Amherst College, from which he graduated with high honors. In the meantime he had determined to take up the profession of medi- cine as his career in life. At the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his serv- ices to the Union Army, becoming assistant surgeon with the rank of lieuten- ant. He saw much active service, and at the close of that terrible conflict re- turned to Reading, Massachusetts, where he continued to practice medicine un- til the time of his death, at the age of fifty-six years. His term of practice in Reading extended over twenty-five years. He became one of the most promi- nent figures in the community and exercised there from first to last a potent in- fluence for good. His practice was large and brought him into intimate per-
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Francis Frederick Brown, M. D.
sonal relations with a very great number of his fellow-men, and everywhere he went he brought with him good cheer and hopeful optimism. He was a courteous, kindly man, a well beloved and honored physician, a devoted and lov- ing husband and a citizen of high repute and worth. He has gone to his re- ward, that is true, but his splendid spirit and influence remain. In his religious belief, Dr. Brown was a member of the Congregational church, and sang tenor in the church choir. He was very fond of music, perhaps inheriting this trait from his illustrious ancestor, the Rev. Edmund Brown, who was a noted mu- sician of his time. He always kept alive the many pleasant associations which he formed during his service in the Civil War.
On June 7, 1865, Dr. Francis Frederick Brown was united in marriage with Emma M. Clapp, a daughter of Lemuel Dexter and Abigail H. (Eaton) Clapp. Lemuel Dexter Clapp was a well known figure in Dorchester, Massa- chusetts, being a tanner by trade. The Eaton family were residents of Fram- ingham, Massachusetts, the Eaton farm having been in the name for five gen- erations. The union of Dr. and Mrs. Brown was blessed with six children, as follows: I. Mabel, who is now Mrs. Mabel Parks. 2. Edward Dexter, died in the camp, at Washington, D. C., during the Spanish-American War, at the age of thirty years. 3. Wilfred Roger, died in his fifth year. 4. Clarence, is associated with the long distance telephone company, and is located at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; he was united in marriage with Mabel Robert- son, and they are the parents of three children, Edward Dexter, Roger Clapp and Jean Robertson. 5. Bertha, librarian at Reading, Massachusetts, and re- sides at home with her mother. 6. Helen Alice, also makes her home with her mother. Mrs. Brown is a member of the Unitarian church, and since the death of her husband sold their residence on Main street, and removed to No. 15 Lowell street, Reading.
There is something admirable in the profession of medicine that seems to surround all those who practice it. Something that is concerned with the prime object, the alleviation of human suffering, something about the self-sacrifice that it must necessarily involve, that makes us regard, and rightly so, all those who choose to follow its difficult way and devote themselves to its great aims, with a large amount of reverence and respect. We turn to seek the hope of the great profession in the future, to the men who, forgetful of personal con- siderations, lose themselves either in the intense interest of the great ques- tions with which they have concerned themselves or in the joy of ren- dering a deep service to their fellow-men. A man of this type was Dr. Brown, who lived a useful life, and was a good man, while his death was a serious loss to the community in which he had lived and practiced for over twenty- five years.
Professor Francis Bomne, IL.D.
TOWHERE have there been a greater number of gifted men than in the New England States, and there are few places within the length and breadth of Massachusetts that have more rea- son than Cambridge for pride in the men, who from its ear- liest beginnings have been identified with its literary life. The death of Professor Francis Bowne, which occurred in Cam- bridge, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, January 21, 1890, deprived that vicinity of a man of fine, natural endowments, and an influence of inestimable value.
Francis Bowne was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, September 8, 18II. One of his grandfathers was a farmer in Connecticut, and the other a farmer in New Hampshire. He was of a large family, and from an early age was obliged to depend, to at least a considerable degree, on himself for sup- port. After receiving his early education at the Mayhew Grammar School of Boston, he was a junior clerk in a publishing house of that city for several years. In January, 1829, he became a pupil in Phillips Exeter Academy, and so well improved had been his time that only a few months of additional study were needed to fit him for the freshman year of the college course. In Au- gust, 1830, he was admitted to the sophomore class of Harvard College, and during the winter of 1829 and 1830 he taught school at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, and during the three following winters taught successively at Lexington, Northborough and Concord, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard College in 1833, with the first honors, in a class containing Henry Warren Torrey, Joseph Lovering and Jeffries Wyman, he returned to Phillips Exeter Academy, and for two years was instructor in mathematics in the Academy. In the middle of the year 1835 he came back to the college, and after serving as a tutor in Greek for one year was appointed instructor of the senior class in mental philosophy and political economy. This office he held for three years, being much occupied with literary pursuits, as literary work had begun to engage his thoughts. In 1837 he contributed to Sparks' "Library of American Biography" a life of Sir William Phipps, and later furnished for the same work the lives of James Otis, of Baron Steuben, and of Benjamin Lin- coln. He was also a frequent contributor to the literary periodicals of that day. In August, 1839, resigning his office in the college, he went to Europe, where he spent a year in study and travel.
On his return he established his residence in Cambridge, and for twelve years devoted himself to literature as a profession. The Transcendental school was at the height of its prosperity. Emerson was publishing his essays, Hawthorne had printed two or three volumes, and in Concord's solitude he was
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Professor Francis Bowne, LL.D.
fitting himself for the writing of his longer romances. Prescott had been rec- ognized as the leading American historian, and at that time still further es- tablished his place in literature by the publication of his "Mexico," and "Peru." George Ticknor was elaborating with patient industry his "History of Spanish Literature," which was issued in 1849. In the midst of these influences, in a decade than which none has ever been more favorable to the pursuit of litera- ture as a vocation, Mr. Bowne settled down to literary work. In 1842 appeared an edition of Virgil, with English notes and a considerable amount of illustra- tions and critical matter. At that time comparatively few American editions of the classics had appeared, and this work, though never revised or expunged of numerous errors and defects, has been kept in the market by successive is- sues from the same stereotype plates and is in considerable use. In the same year he published a volume of essays entitled, "Critical Essays on Speculative Philosophy," devoted chiefly to the systems of Kant, Fichte, Cousin, and to the evidences of Christianity, as affected by the developments of metaphysical doc- trines. The following year he became the proprietor of the "North American Review," which he owned and edited for more than a decade. During six of those years he also edited and published "The American Almanac and Repos- itory of Useful Knowledge." During the winters of 1848 and 1849 he deliv- ered before the Lowell Institute two courses of lectures on Metaphysics and Ethics, which have since been published in two editions.
In 1850 Mr. Bowne returned to the College under an appointment to the McLean Professorship of History, but held this office only six months. Three years later he was nominated and confirmed Alford Professor of Natural Re- ligion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity. The duties of the professorship did not, however, prevent him from accomplishing a vast deal of literary work. He published the following: "Behr's Translation of Weber's Outlines of Uni- versal History," revised and corrected, with the addition of a "History of the United States," 1853; "Documents of the Constitution of England and Amer- ica, from Magna Charta to the Federal Constitution of 1789," compiled and edited, with notes; 1854; "Dugald Stewart's Philosophy of the Human Mind," revised and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, 1854; "The Prin- ciples of Metaphysical and Ethical Science Applied to the Evidences of Relig- ion," 1855; "The Principles of Political Economy Applied to the Condition and Institutions of the American People," 1856; "The Metaphysics of Sir William Hamilton," collected, arranged and abridged, 1862; "De Tocqueville's Democ- racy in America," edited, with notes, 1862; "A Treatise on Logic, or the Laws of Pure Thought, Comprising both the Aristotelic and the Hamiltonian Analy- sis of Logical Forms," 1864; "American Political Economy," 1870; "Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Schopenhauer and Hartmann," 1877; "Glean- ings from a Literary Life," 1880.
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